Insurers mourn no action on water claims, assignment of benefits

Insurance companies and their allies lamented Friday that state lawmakers ended their session without addressing water-damage claims they say are inflating costs.

“Even without a hurricane making landfall, property insurance rates are set to skyrocket,” benefitting “a small group of greedy vendors and their lawyers,” said a statement from the Florida Property & Casualty Association. “Florida deserves better.”

Contractors, attorneys and others contended insurers were trying to lowball customers on claims and interfere with consumers’ rights to assign benefits to third parties.

State-run insurer Citizens, for example, blames projected rate increases of 10 percent a year in South Florida on water claims inflated by assignment of benefits to third parties, such as a clean-up contractors. For more on other factors that may be in play in that case, see here.